during the test? I do most of my testing indoors on a computrainer but use my on the bike power meter for the metrics (I think it's more accurate and has better precision than the computrainer does). I show 10s power and lap avg power during the testing and absolutely watch it, almost froome style.

I also do some testing on a climb that because I'm not particularly good takes me about 22 minutes to get to the top, when i do there, I might glance at the pm but i'm mostly focusing on the road ahead, except for a level off portion (false peak) near the top where I need to really keep the power poured on during a test to achieve best results.

which hill is this?

shanghai express hedgesville WV.

i'll offer you a 3-min head start. you game? :p

CHappy come ride with me

game on!

*I always go out there with others since I have a tendency to get lost

deal. i'll wager a bottle of Ommegang Rare Vos
you ride wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too late in the day. i'd get sunburned and probably turn into cured ham by the time we are done

also you spot me `1:30 on that hill and i'm game

Did a standard 5' and 20' test yesterday. 20' was lower than I'd hoped, but about what I should have expected. 5' was a little bit higher than expected and it gives me the pursuiter's inverted V, per the Training with a Power Meter book.

I'm sorry i don't want to get up at 8 on a saturday, and as long as I can have beer I'll give you 5 minutes.

My wife's family lives in Back Creek Valley, just over a mile from the start of that climb. Awesome place to ride.

Sounds like twilight zone.

Fiesta Island can be a little weird at times

You can sign up for the free version of TrainingPeaks and upload your rides there automatically using Garmin Connect. TrainingPeaks will email you with your new FTP when you set your record for 20 minute power. For example, I went up Sierra Road in San Jose a few months ago and afterwards TP emailed me saying my new FTP is 337, based on a 20 minute critical power of 355.

If you haven't been riding for a while, you could lower your FTP and then raise it as TP informs you, or just do the twenty minute test.

how heavy are you? that's a huge FTP number. also, is that an estimated power or a recorded 355w?

I'm at a point right now (290w/155lbs) where I'm starting to plateau a little bit... getting to my goal of 300w FTP will be doable, but tough.

At this point, I'm going to finish Jan with a big training load, than taper off in Feb as I'll be racing four times. I'll give it one more serious push or "build" with VO2 and FTP work in March/Apr, then taper down for my A races in May.

I'm still doing the 5' + 20' protocol. When I ride to Fiesta Island, I also informally throw in a ~80s at 150% on a steep hill just to wake things up.

a few things i've noted for myself.

the first test ever (or maybe even the next season) is a shot in the dark. Pacing and effort get MUCH better over time and over iterations. You get better at 'testing' the more you test. I like to try to hold a flat line vs negative split, limited standing.

i can't find the picture at the moment to support, but for me I just do my good warmup , (whatever u think u do, lactate buffering, progression blah blah) and then 5 minute rest and then the 20 minute full blast. I have tested a decent amount to not negative split the effort, but from the final 20m average i take 93%.

The picture i was trying to find, implied to whatever degree that based on the type of type you might be and whatever physiological systems you got, u might want to take 93% vs 95%. I've used 95% in the past and found it a bit too hard. And interval repeat ability can provide the necessary insight for this. If your '100%' FTP number is 300w, and you cannot do 300w for 5 minutes in a workout, something is awry. What others have said isn't wrong either. You could in theory, not ever test, but do workouts and gauge 'fitness' from there. IMHO as long as whatever number you work with to set zones is do able in efforts and workouts, that's probably the best estimate to your FTP. It doesn't have to be exact to a decimal. I test about 3 times between dec-march. Then once mid summer and 2-3 times in the fall. It doesn't have to be every month or bi-weekly. If the majority of my workouts are indoors, i test indoors. If im riding outdoors, then i'll test outdoors, and i've personally found not that much variation between in vs outside tests. Some claim they magically find 30w outside...

I just magically lose 30+ inside. Outside it real.

my fake workouts and fake FTP seem to stack up pretty good in real races against guys with real outside ftps and training.

ftfy

East coast is Beast coast!

you have it backwards. my ****ty indoor workouts and indoor ftp seem to stack up pretty good in real races against guys outside with great indoor ftps and training.

I can't tell if you're taking offense to something or not, but I'm the one who can't get it up on the trainer, so I don't know why you would be.

I'm not honestly offended by very much on bf. Inside and outside are equally real though, as real as anything ephemeral could be. And now with the virtual world of zwift it's even more true!

That's me. I never test. The reality is that I do a bunch of different intervals depending on the particular goals, from 10 seconds to 20 minutes, and for each duration I have a very good sense of what my PR is, what a repeatable effort is, and various shadings in between.

For whatever length interval, I pretty much know the number I can hit all day, which is lower than the number I can hit 3x in a row, which is lower than the number I can hit 2x in a row, which is lower than the number I can hit once and then not be able to finish the 2nd interval. I have a guess for what my FTP is, but I don't really care about whether or not it's accurate, because I would only be using it to calibrate those intervals anyway, and I feel like they are already calibrated.

I pretty much agree with that. I tested 3x last year (Jan 4th, end of Nov while tired, the following week while fresh) just to have concrete confirmation progress is actually happening. The thing about those tests is if you do them right there's no way you're doing more than 1x5min + 1x20 min above z2, and that seems like a waste of a workout. I'd rather have 3x20's scheduled since it's more time in zone.

I think there is value to someone performing the test the first few times because like what [MENTION=89743]jdms mvp[/MENTION] said you do learn how to pace them properly to maximize the e-wangage and it helps to have a reasonably accurate number to base things on, but beyond that only a very occasional test makes sense to me.

until USAC gets on Zwift, the races are outside which is why I value that one more. I imagine if I rode the trainer as regularly as the snowbound crowd I would acclimate.